The results of recent research by DoubleClick Inc, of 300 online video ad campaigns, shows that audiences click the "Play" button more than they click on image ads, video ads are typically played two-thirds of the way through, and video ad click rates are far higher than those of image format ads.

Rick Bruner, research director at DoubleClick, said "Online video ads are quickly becoming the medium of choice to drive both brand awareness and sales..."

The overall average interaction rate for ads studied in this analysis includes the sum total of mouseovers, expansions, interactions with the video control buttons, clicks and other events, divided by the total impressions served.

Consumers are roughly twice as likely to play (or replay if a video starts automatically) an online video ad unit, as they are to click through on a standard JPG or GIF ad (the standard CTR for image ads is between 0.1 and 0.2 percent).

For video ads embedded in Web pages, the most common length of play was 30 seconds; the next most common length was 15 seconds.

There is little difference in the length of play between ads that expand to a larger display window and standard video ads that do not expand.

On average, video ads play approximately two-thirds of the way through, or 19.1 seconds for a 30-second ad and 10.3 seconds for a 15-second ad.

Marianne Caponnetto, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for DoubleClick, concludes "...The best standard data... on audience measurement of TV commercials is limited to reach and frequency or specialized brand studies... online video metrics available today, like interaction rate, play rate, video completion rate and so on, give advertisers much greater insight into how consumers are actually engaging with the ads and their brands."